Guest Post, Caroline Henry – La Fine Bulle a perfect place to relax and discover new Champagnes in Epernay

Guest Post – There are so many great wine blogs out there in the blogosphere. These guest posts are an effort to introduce you to my fellow wine bloggers, people who’s blogs I enjoy reading and who I’ve met up with over a glass or two. Cheers!

champagne and snack

Epernay lies in the centre of the Champagne region and is considered to be the capital of this wine region. It is sleepy little town situated at the banks of the Marne River at the cross roads of the 3 of the 4 sub regions – La Vallée de la Marne, Les Montagnes de Reims and La Côte des Blancs. It has been the home of the major Champagne Negotiants since the early 19th Century and still today one can visit the famous Champagne Houses on the Avenue du Champagne.

It is hence the perfect place to go and sample a few Champagnes in the recently opened Champagne bar/store, a cosy yet classy bar, located 17 Rue Gambetta.

lounge area

shop

The bar offers a choice of 5 growers Champagnes by the glass, and changes the selection on a weekly basis. They have partnered up with 25 growers representing the main subregions in Champagne including de Côte des Bar in the Aube. Their by the glass selection tries to reflect the different styles of Champagne and the focus ranges from showing off a single variety (eg Blanc de Blanc, Blanc de Noir) to showing the characteristics of the different regions. And the selection always includes one rosé. Glass sizes are 10 ml (€5.50) and 14ml (€6.50). Alternatively one can opt for a flight – here one can either choose to taste the 4 whites or to include the rosé as well and have a tasting of the 5 featured Champagnes. The flights come in 2 sizes, 5 ml tasting (€12 or €14) or 10 ml tastings (€20 or €26). The featured Growers Champagnes are also available by the bottle for the very reasonable price of €35.

rare saber set

La Fine Bulle also offers a glass of Champagne by a major brand for around €9 and again the proposed brand will change on a weekly basis. Further by the glass selections include Kir (peach, blue berry and raspberry flavours are available), Coteaux de Champenois, a still red wine from Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier from the Champagne area, Ratafia, Champagne’s version of the aperitif Pinot de Charentes or Marc de Champagne, the local spirit.

All wines are accompanied with little toasts or a biscuit so one can appreciate the champagne in combination with food.

La fine Bulle has an extensive wine list (by the bottle) offering a range of more than 200 Champagnes, these include most of the better known prestige cuvée’s. Every week they also feature a prestige special where they offer a prestige cuvée at a very reasonable price! This week it was a bottle of Krug at €149.

All the wines on the wine list can also be purchased in the wine store where most growers Champagnes range between €15 and €25 per bottle and there are significant discount for case purchases. These wines are generally available in several bottle sizes – half bottle, bottle or magnum and it is possible to buy some very large bottles (methusalems and baltazars) for some of the brands. The shop also has a great selection of Champagne glasses, ice bucket, Champagne gift boxes, including some hard to find prestige cuvée sets and some exquisite local produce.

I have spend many an hour at La Fine Bulle and take all my guests here as it definitely is THE place to hang out and sample Champagnes in Epernay.

Caroline and the Wine Sleuth champagne tasting

La Fine Bulle

17 rue Gambetta

51200 Epernay, France

03 26 32 05 37

Caroline Henry

Bio: Caroline is a wine lover, certified sommelier and wine marketing and social media consultant based in Champagne where she also organises tailor made Champagne holidays. She has a particular interest in Champagne and natural wine and blogs about all things wine related at Missinwine.com and can be followed on Twitter @carohenry